CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System is a key part to the success of any business. A CRM helps you understand the buying behavior of your customers, their wants and also their needs. Imagine if you will that you owned your own Bank. With a CRM tool you track how each customer uses your banking services. Such as what time of the month they withdraw money from a checking or savings account, where they shop at, and the amount both you and your spouse make each month. You will also know what how much debt they are in with car loans, home mortgages, and maybe you might be able to determine how many children they have and what ages they are. You might be saying to yourself right now, "That's great, why should I care?" Here is why, you now have a leading edge in marketing your services to that person.
Say you know that Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, and your system has recorded that they have had a child about every two years, and each time they have a child they set up a College Savings Fund for that child. The system knows that it is about two years since they have had their last child. Would it not be an opportunistic time send the Jones Family a reminder that they need a College Savings Fund that will benefit their future child? Of course it would!
Now lets make things a little more interesting. Your system begins to notice an irregularity in the deposit amount that is made by Mr. Jones each month both the savings and checking account. The deposit amount has dropped $3,000 a month, what has happened? It would be easy to determine through past data that Mr. Jones is no longer depositing a pay check, meaning he has lost his job. An investment opportunity would be just the ticket for Mr. Jones right at this moment, because you know he has a family and that he probably wants to secure his families financial future. Not only are you able to provide your services, but more importantly provide a need for the Jones Family.
Lets broaden our interests outside of just the Jones Family for a bit and begin to look at the bank as a whole. You begin to see that allot of your customers are withdrawing money from ATM's that are outside of your network. This will help you determine that you need to spread your network coverage, and also that you need to send some sort of incentive to your customers so that they will stay loyal to you and to your bank and not go to another bank where they think they could get better service. You have now just kept your customers loyal as well as expanding your coverage area. You could also run ads letting the public know that you are growing and that you are able to provide better coverage verses what their bank is able to provide them.
Lets return our attention back to the Jones Family once again. Your system is seeing allot of purchases from an Online Adult Book Store made by the families credit card. By checking previous information on purchases made on the card, you see that no purchases have ever been made to that type of institution before, and that they typically use that credit card to buy Christian Books, and other related items. You are now able to freeze the credit card and contact the Jones family to check to see if they have had their credit cards stolen from them. Sure enough they did have their credit card stolen and you were able to take action before damage was done.
By using this CRM system you were able to help the Jones family through credit card theft, Mr. Jones losing his job, setting up a College Savings Fund, and help your whole customer basis in setting up access to ATM's that would have been normally outside of their coverage area. A question may now come up that is, "Do I know to much information about my clients?" The answer is no. Why? Look at what you were able to accomplish in helping your customers. You are developing your bank to better adapt with their needs, and leave them with a feeling of assurance that you are looking out for their best interests.
By learning more about CRM systems you will get to know who your customers are, grow your business, and be more competitive in your market. If you are not now currently implementing this system I would strongly suggest taking immediate action in doing so.

Porter's 5 forces

Currently in the video renting market buying power is high. There are many stores to choose from as well as online locations to choose where to rent videos from. Suppliers power when new movies are released are high, and tapper off when the movie has been released for sometime and the general consumer is waiting for what is new to hit the shelves. Currently online markets are perceived as a high threat to many video retailers. Many consumers hate waiting in line or have had a negative experience in purchasing in store so they go online to rent their movies from several online retailers. Apple is now revolutionising the market with the capability to rent movies through your itunes then being able to watch it on your ipod, or itv for a limited amounts of days. For anyone trying to break into the business of being a video rental vendor has to provide some type of new experience that others are not. Redbox, who's owned by McDonald's, has done a fantastic job in marketing their new video rental systems. They are able to put a RedBox's anywhere where they can get permission. With little to no maintenance and with a very usable interface this makes the ideal solutions for not having to hire a store stuff, and having to have a very limited call center to take comments, questions, and other general customer concerns. Redbox also does extensive email campaigns to show when new movies are coming out, and what types of specials they are offering. Besides Redbox you also have Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Netflix, and soon to be Apple, as the main competitors in the video rental industry. Blockbuster adapted the idea that Netflix has with being able to rent online. One advantage that Blockbuster has is that if the DVD is defective in anyway, you are able to go to a store and swap it out for a new DVD. With Netflix you do not have such the convenience, but rarely these issues do arise. I think that each company is listening to the consumers thoughts and concerns, because the buyer power is so high. They are wanting to provide the best possible service so that they can generate repeat business, and more revenue for their company. If you could find a leading edge that no one else has in the industry you would be able to jump to the top of the lead competitors and be able to stick around and fight for more of an edge in the market to take away their customers and add them to be your new loyal customers. Porter's five forces is an invaluable tool in when looking to see what you can do in order to get into an industry. You need to look at all five key forces that help drive a business so that you can make money, and have a successful business. If you do not look at the five factors then you can easily find yourself in financial ruin. 90% of all new businesses fail within the first month due to the lack of knowledge of Porter's principals. They are a key for anyone deciding to start a new business, or to grow the one that they already have.

My Future Career

Since the beginning of this semester I have began to think long and hard on what it is that I truly would like to do with the rest of my life. I have always been enthralled with law enforcement and also with accounting. Reading through the assignment that was given helped me realize that I would be able to bring the two together. For the moment doing accounting work for the FBI or ATF seems like a very exciting career choice.

LDSBC does offer an Accounting Certificate which will indeed help me on my way in getting my CPA. I will also be able to take many courses in Information Systems that will give me an edge over most in the practical involvement of technology in real world environments. 

The IT skills that I will need to acquire will be to have a great understanding in Accounting Information Systems, Database Management and Design, Spreadsheet Modeling, Network Security, and learn how to do extensive research. 

I like to travel and would be willing to go anywhere the government would like to send me. Searching on Monster.com, the most promising job that I was able to find was in Vienna, VA working for the Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Division as a Information Technology Specialist. The salary ranges from $80,000 to $120,000. However I would have had to work for the government already in previous positions to obtain this job for the Department of Treasury. It seems that the job that I am looking for is not readily available on Monster.com and that I would need to go directly to the FBI or ATF websites and check for openings. 

I am sure as I continue to develop my skills, and learn more about various fields of work, I will have a better idea what it is that I would like to do for a career.